Promises to Keep - Ann Tatlock [78]
But when Daddy finally spoke, he said, “It’s going to be good, Roz.” That was all, and I had to do my dreaming without him.
chapter
33
I sat on the edge of Valerie’s bed, listening to her say her prayers with Tillie. “Our Fadder, it’s hot in heaven . . .”
I bit my lower lip so as not to laugh. Tillie didn’t miss a beat but quietly recited the prayer along with her, then pulled the covers up tight around her chin and kissed her cheek. “Good night, little one,” she said.
“Night, Tillie. I love you.”
“I love you too. Sweet dreams.”
Tillie turned off the light on the bedside table, and a small nightlight took over, holding back the dark. I slipped off the bed and kissed my sister good-night. Her cheek was soft and smelled sweet and clean from her bubble bath.
“Night, Roz,” she said sleepily.
“Good night, Valerie. See you in the morning.”
Tillie and I treaded lightly out of the room and down the stairs. In the kitchen Tillie tied her apron back on and set about slicing apples for a pie she was making. I sat down at the table, resting my chin in the cup of my hands.
“What time did Mom say she’d be home?” I asked.
“She didn’t,” Tillie said, cutting an apple into halves. “It’ll be late, since she and Tom have gone to Chicago to see the show. All she said was don’t wait up.”
I sniffed at the thought of her going all the way to Chicago with Tom Barrows on a Friday night. “How come she has to spend so much time with him?” I complained. “I wish she’d just stay home with us.”
Tillie paused in her cutting and shook her head. “I don’t have a good answer for you, Roz. Between you, me, and the lamppost, I don’t think she ought to be seeing anyone.”
“You don’t? That’s not what you said before. You said we should all just want her to be happy.”
“Yes, I know,” she said. “Frankly, though, I thought she and Tom might go out once, maybe twice, and that would be it. They don’t really seem like a good match to me.”
I raised my eyebrows, startled and happy to hear her say so. “They don’t seem like a good match to me either, Tillie.”
“So I thought the whole thing would just kind of peter out on its own,” she went on. “I sure never thought Tom would be coming around here so much. What I think your mother really needs is a chance to heal and get over your father. That’s going to take some time, and I don’t believe the real healing will begin until after the divorce is final. Heaven only knows when that will be, since they haven’t even filed all the paperwork yet.”
“The divorce?” I echoed. That was the first time I’d heard the word used in relation to Mom and Daddy.
“Well, sure. There’s got to be a divorce, you know. That’s what happens when husbands and wives end a marriage. But your grandfather has only just found your mother a lawyer. They’re just getting started. Eventually they’ll serve your father with the papers, and then there will be a lot of legal stuff to figure out. It might take some time before your mother’s free to marry again.”
“What does it mean that he’ll get served with some papers?”
“Just that there are papers about the divorce that both your parents will have to sign to make it final.”
“What if Daddy doesn’t sign them?”
“He will. He may not want to at first, but he will eventually.”
Not if they don’t find him, I thought.
“Tillie?”
“Yes, Roz?” Tillie stirred sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl with a wooden spoon.
“We had another air raid drill in school today.”
“Oh?” She added cornstarch and salt to the sugar mix, then sprinkled all of it over the apple slices. She may have thought I was changing the subject, but I wasn’t.
“Every time we have an air raid drill, I think about what it would be like if the Russians dropped a bomb on us and killed us all.”
“Merciful heavens!” Tillie said, turning to look at me sharply. “You shouldn’t be worrying about something like that. I’ve half a mind to go to the school board and tell them to stop those silly drills. No one’s going to drop any bombs on us.”
“They aren’t? Because